The Daily Mixer

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I've got a few feather themed projects lined up for you this week that will add something extra special to your Thanksgiving table. First up are these festive gingerbread feather cookies.
I hand cut these cookies using a feather cut from card stock as my template. Hand cutting did take a little extra time so I recommend cutting and baking your feather cookies ahead of time if you are making a lot of them.

After rolling and cutting press a lollipop stick into the back of the cookie and press on a little extra dough to secure the stick. Turn back over and bake cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
Once cooled you are ready to decorate! I used orange and blue candy melts, and orange and teal jimmies. Melt your candy melts in the microwave 20 seconds at a time and once melted pour into a disposable decorating bag. Pipe stripes of candy melt onto your cookies and coat with jimmies. Let one color set before you move onto the next.

I've created a printable PDF for you that includes templates for all 4 feather themed projects created to help you celebrate this Thanksgiving. Download here:FeatherTemplate

Hope you all had a happy Halloween! I have a fun month of autumn baking and entertaining ideas lined up for you, and the cutest Thanksgiving DIY's that I'm so excited about! They will make your Thanksgiving table so very special!

Starting off this month of November are these yummy gingerbread deer that pair fabulously with a fresh cup of hot coffee. A little bit campy, a little bit rustic.. they make me happy!
They don't require any decorating which makes them a breeze to whip up using the Layer Cake ShopStanding Deer Cutter. Just mix up a batch of your favorite gingerbread, roll, cut, bake, dunk and nibble. Yum.
They are the perfect autumn afternoon treat. Enjoy!
♥ greta

This week was our week to bring a snack to Olive's preschool. The theme was Fall Fun, so we thought some Acorn Cookie Friends would be perfect. We served the cookies along with applesauce and milk.. they were a hit!
Olive cut out the the acorns, dipped them in chocolate, and also added the eyes. She was very proud, and we loved how different and silly they all looked!
To make your own Acorn Cookie Friends follow our tutorial found HERE. We used our favorite gingerbread recipe instead of chocolate cookie dough, they are both delicious.

After they are completely cool melt together a 50/50 mix of Milk Chocolate Candy Melts and White Chocolate Candy Melts. Mixing them together gives your acorn caps the perfect light brown color. Start with enough candy melts in a small microwaveable bowl so that the melted candy is deep enough to dip your cookies. Melt at 20 second intervals stirring in between. Just heat until melted. DO NOT OVERHEAT your candy melts or they may become thick and unusable.

Dip the caps of your acorns straight down into the melted candy melts watching carefully to just coat the caps. Pull your acorn up and scrape the back along the edge of the bowl to remove excess candy melt. Watch to make sure this doesn't cause cookie crumbs to get mixed in with your pretty melted candy. Place on wax paper to dry.

Use a toothpick dipped in your still melted candy melts to apply your Royal Icing Eyes. And your done! Now its time to taste.. we know.. right.. they are so delicious!

We like to put Royal Icing Eyes on just about anything edible, but they are pretty adorable without them too.

We know what you're thinking "I would love to make these for Thanksgiving but its too late to order my supplies!" Well have no fear, autumn is not over yet and what better reason to make some acorn friends than knowing a cold and snowy winter is right around the corner. For some fun packaging try our Glassine Bakery Bags and Cappuccino Brown Bakers Twine.

Look at these little guys.. don't they just look so happy! Bet they made you smile! I think its the big eye, tiny smile combo.

Mix up a batch of our favorite cutout cookie dough, cut pumpkins, bake and let cool. After baking mix up some of our favorite royal icing and reserve about an 1/8 of your icing. Dye the larger amount orange using our Orange Gel Paste Food Coloring. Dye the smaller reserved icing green using our Mint Green Gel Paste Food Coloring. We like to fold over our icing bag and place in a drinking glass to make filling the bag easy. Royal icing hardens pretty fast so try to quickly get it into your decorating bag, twisting the end of your bag shut, and securing it with a rubber band.

Outline your pumpkin and then flood the inside. We like to flood by squiggling the icing back and forth and then pushing it around with our icing tip to fill in any holes. This technique works really well if your icing is the right consistency. Not too stiff, not too runny.

The icing then settles into a really nice smooth surface.

Use the same technique for the green stems.

Let dry uncovered overnight. Add your Jumbo Royal Icing Eyes with a dab of royal icing and a little smile with our Black Edible Ink Pens.